2.06.2012

It was pretty quiet at my house until an impromptu party broke out. Who was that guy who brought his own grill over and was lighting up the sky with a flame in my backyard?

The Patriots first play resulted in a safety (an odd call but a correct one.) Heard this morning that the Vegas odds of the first score being a safety were 75 to 1. Edit: Dallas is a 20-1 shot to win the Super Bowl next year.

I wrote a few weeks back how I was finally at the point of believing that teams should allow the other team to score in some situations. We saw it last night. It didn't work out, but Bill Belichick would have gone down as the greatest football genius in the history of ever if it had.

I took my football to the nearest goalpost yesterday and discovered I can kick an extra point. Barely.

I noticed my TV screen flicker during the halftime show. It wasn't until this morning that I discovered NBC was trying to censor MIA.

One of the gals over at the house last night, upon realizing that Cee Lo Green was at the Super Bowl and on The Voice immediately afterwards, asked, "How did he get there so fast?" Her husband and I tried very hard to suppress our laughter because she is not "slow to anger."

It is amazing how the Right Wing tried to dismiss the lowering unemployment numbers last week. Let me say it again: The way the number is calculated is the way it is calculated.

A nine year old in Rhome is in the death announcements in the Update this morning. What happened?

Someone pointed out to me that being a member of AARP makes your spouse automatically qualified to join AARP. I haven't told Mrs. LL that yet. I hope she is "slow to anger."

Ticket Fans: You should have heard shortly after 6:00 a.m. this morning when both their AM signal and FM signal went down. The only way the station was broadcasting was over the Internet and the Musers absolutely went off on an unnamed manager who "might destroy what we took 18 years to build."

If you believe Josh Hamilton doesn't drink on a regular basis, you're nuts. It's only when he gets caught do we see the press conferences.

I had to renew my driver's license at the Decatur DPS office on Friday. Those ladies are cheery but don't have a real sense of urgency about them. But, all in all, I think I'll take that. (But the Sargent behind them who looked up and said, "Oh, I know who he is" made me a little nervous.)

About the Madonna show--my party onlookers and I spent most of the time marveling about how elaborate the stage was, how quickly it was assembled (and about how it changed throughout her show), and how fast they were going to take it down afterwards! Quite a feat of engineering!

Now if our country could just complete highway improvements that fast! :-)

Yes, Barry, that IS the way the number is calculated....but you and our mainstream media need to do your jobs and tell the rest of the story about all of the people off the unemployment rolls because they've given up looking for work altogether.

After all, it's not as if you and media are trying to get Obama re-elected....RIGHT?!?!

Love, even though it's hard to believe unless it's a little kid, that the tweeter with the stage picture was "not sure" whether or not the halftime show was going to be televised, and was therefore assuming the role of informing the world about what happened there.

BG, you are showing not political blindness -- you're a professed Liberal, so blindness is expected -- but a mathematical blindness.

All of the figures are in the comments from the other day, but it boils down to this:

Under BushOut of 1000 people, 670 are in the workforce. 35 of those are unemployed. Unemployment rate = 5.2%. (The average of Bush's first 77 months in office.)

Under ObamaOut of 1000 people, 637 are in the workforce (33 fewer than under Bush.) 69 of those are unemployed. Unemployment rate = 8.3%. (The figure causing BG such joy.)

The 33 person difference, although they are adults who are not employed, are not counted as "in the workforce," and are not counted as "unemployed." Add them back into the equation, and Obama's real unemployment rate is 15.2%, using the exact same calculation as used under Bush.

You can also compare Obama to himself. His best "in the workforce" figure was 65.8%, or 658 out of 1000, 21 more than in January. Add those 21 back into the equation, and Obama's real unemployment rate is 13.7%.

Nevada has a fairly high population of Mormons (11%) compared to the rest of the country, but it's nothing like neighboring Utah. One doesn't automatically think "Mormon" when Nevada comes to mind. Gambling, drinking, divorce, and prostitution are the driving forces of their economy - hardly Mormon-like.

You let some other guy grill in your backyard!? Unless it was a relative or in-law (or you're on your team's PUP list), dude...you need to get a grip on your domestic situation.But your first bullet point was about how much you loved the halftime show; you didn't comment on the game proper until later, so...

Of course Hamilton drinks. He had 3 or 4 drinks in public and we have to hold a press conference!! Give me a break!! The entire thing is silly, he wasn't drunk off his ass driving around town. He had some drinks and went home. GET OVER IT!!

And I blundered. The labor participation rate under Bush averaged 66.2%, not 67%. Adjust numbers accordingly. (Using the same calculation as used under Bush, Obama's January unemployment figure should be 14.2%.)

Obama has policies that are slowly working themselves into the economy and improving them. His ideas are not much different then what Republican and Democrat presidents that preceded him.

There is no baseline to what happened to us in 2008. If anyone is to blame it is the Republican run Congress under the Democratic run Presidency of Clinton in creating the financial regulations or the Credit bubble created by Bush. Then Obama stumbling through the beginning when he thought he knew what he was doing.

How come only use Bush unemployment rate for the first 77 months and not entire 84 in office?According to articles I have read unemployment rates are typically affected for 12-18 months depending on the severity of the recession. The recession of 2007-08 was one of the worst we experienced. According to the Bureau of Labor the rate was 5.0% in Bush's last month in office. The rate increased to 7.8% in 1 year and 9.6% in 1 1/2 years. The time period within the effects of the recession brought on the policies of the Bush administration. So to blame Obama for the high unemployment rate is only part true. Better to say his policies have not reduced the rate as fast as should be or as deeply as desired would be more accurate. You can not discount the fact it would never risen to 10% had it not been the previous problems that occurred under Bush. Plenty of blame for both parties.

Unless I can renew my DL online, I will leave the metroplex and drive to Decatur to do it. Far faster and a lot more pleasant than doing it here.The tech-no show was amazing. Madonna was mediocre.is the RTG an alien?

"Under BushOut of 1000 people, 670 are in the workforce. 35 of those are unemployed. Unemployment rate = 5.2%. (The average of Bush's first 77 months in office.)

Under ObamaOut of 1000 people, 637 are in the workforce (33 fewer than under Bush.) 69 of those are unemployed. Unemployment rate = 8.3%. (The figure causing BG such joy.)

The 33 person difference, although they are adults who are not employed, are not counted as "in the workforce," and are not counted as "unemployed." Add them back into the equation, and Obama's real unemployment rate is 15.2%, using the exact same calculation as used under Bush.

You can also compare Obama to himself. His best "in the workforce" figure was 65.8%, or 658 out of 1000, 21 more than in January. Add those 21 back into the equation, and Obama's real unemployment rate is 13.7%."

Barry, you have to answer this and answer it now or we won't know what to do.

1153 - Because otherwise intelligent people say things like "the calculation is what it is" without admitting that although the calculation may be the same, the numbers the calculation is based on are different.

With more and more people giving up and dropping out of the workforce, the official "unemployment rate" may indeed improve in the coming months -- while hundreds of thousands more people are without jobs. What should hang around Obama's neck like an anvil is actually being cited as an Obama success.

The real question to the Hamilton fiasco is "why was he within walking distance of a bar and not at home with his family?"The "family problem" he eluded to is the real problem.......and if you think he doesn't drink at home you ARE nuts.

The ABC/Washington Post Poll indicated Obama is ahead of Mitt Romney, 51% to 45%, among registered voters. The new figure is the first time Obama cracked 50% against the former Massachusetts governor in the survey. He received 46% to Romney's 47% in mid-January.

It has been stated various ways above, but just to put it in words that you used, BG:"The way the number is calculated is the way it is calculated."Yes, but the way it is calculated now is different from the way it was calculated in the past, and if one calculated the rate the same way it formerly was, it would be significantly higher.Just like the way they calculate the inflation rate today is different - they currently don't include the cost of food or fuel. Huh?

For the statistically Inclined, who is counting all these selfemployed Internet zillionaires to be? Lots of folks are pulling down paychecks without being counted. Wordkyle can factor that in if he chooses.